Mortlake history

The name may have something to do with dead bodies in the lake. The village was already called Mortlake in the Domesday book. Archbishop Cramner, Thomas Cromwell, and Catherine Parr were occupiers of the manor house in Henry VIII’s reign. Mortlake was a popular place to live in Tudor times. The alchemist, Dr John Dee had a house there too. Charles I seized a large chunk of the village’s common land for the park of his palace of Richmond. In the 17th and 18th centuries there was succeeding waves of villas for the rich. The remaining Victorian villas were torn down and replaced by terraced house development in the early 20th century. There are still some 18th century houses with gardens leading down to the river. Mortlake kept its village character into the modern era.